EASING THE TOLL ON FREQUENT DRIVERS

An electronic plastic box that allows drivers to breeze through toll plazas is coming.

If all goes as planned, a frequent "flier" discount will come with it.

State transportation officials want the public's opinion of the discount plan _ a financial break for loyal toll-road users _ and will hold workshops in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties this week.

The SunPass system, which lets drivers pay tolls ahead of time and thus avoid plaza hassles, will be installed on state toll roads in congested South Florida this summer and, eventually, on toll roads statewide.

The small "transponders" _ used successfully in other cities, states and countries, such as Orlando, Oklahoma and Brazil, _ are Velcro-mounted on the windshield and can be transferred to other vehicles. A ride through the toll lane debits the account electronically.

Drivers can press a transponder button to check their account balance.

The state hopes to get more drivers to use toll roads so they can reap the revenues, but state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kimberlee Poulton said that's only the secondary reason the state is spending $38.6 million on SunPass.

"The No. 1 reason we're getting SunPass is strictly for the convenience of our patrons."

While all the details on it haven't been worked out yet, the workshops are for input on the discount plan only, said FDOT public information officer Mike Washburn.

The discount program would be open to SunPass drivers on Florida's Turnpike and Sawgrass Expressway _ another way to encourage toll-road use, to get more drivers to buy a SunPass transponder, and, Poulton said, to reward the faithful.

As proposed, any SunPasser driving through a toll plaza 40 times or more in a month would get a 10 percent discount for that month.

SunPass installation will start this summer, and by the year's end, the following roads will be hooked up: the Turnpike from Boynton Beach south and Sawgrass Expressway in Broward County; the Dolphin Expressway, Don Shula Expressway, State Road 112 and Gratigny Parkway in Miami-Dade County.

Commonly talked about as a way to avoid slowing down at toll plazas, the SunPass doesn't actually give drivers freedom to zoom through at highway speed.

"They still have to go through the toll plaza, so they will have to slow down to 25," Poulton said.

But it's a way to avoid what can be 20-minute, rush-hour waits to drop money in the toll basket.

The state will be prepared, too, for sneaky drivers.

A video camera will snap shots of license tags and send citations to drivers who have no transponder but try to use the fast lane anyway.